SYN OPS E S
will someday succumb. Iris is appalled by the idea and declares that the world is more likely to be turned upside down than she is to marry.
Idylle sur la Paix
Iris and the Egyptian girls see the satyrs coming, and the whole party flees from the boisterous forest gods. When Iris emerges from her hiding place, she discovers her unwanted suitor, Tircis. Iris is displeased by his moodiness; she wants to be left alone. Tircis is agitated, despite the calm and gentle reign of Louis, because of Iris’s rejection of him and her refusal to feel love despite inspiring so much of it. Iris defends herself by saying that far from not loving anything, she loves the French countryside, and even more these gardens of Rueil where she loves to sing and dance with the other shepherdesses.
The people of Europe are invited by the French nobility to celebrate the peace and the happiness it brings. Shepherds and shepherdesses pay homage to the goddess Peace: she protects families and makes it possible for nature to feed them through regular harvests. They also honor Peace by cultivating graceful gardens. Those present ask to whom they owe this happiness: who sent Bellona, the goddess of war, back down to hell? A victorious Louis XIV has given them this respite; he has again defeated France’s many enemies. From north to south, his might is feared. They all agree that the king should be the true subject of the celebration. They then praise the charm of the gardens of Sceaux, where flowers, trees, and water combine in abundance. The king’s visit makes nature itself more brilliant. A prayer for the king unites them: they wish him a long life, evoking the longest rivers of France, the Seine and the Loire. All predict eternal glory for Louis XIV.
La Fête de Rueil
In the gardens of Rueil, near Paris, the shepherdess Iris celebrates the morning appearance of the sun, the emblem of Louis XIV. She is amazed by the sun’s brilliance, and as the king’s fame is universal, how much love the supreme orb inspires in everyone. Her reverie is interrupted by a group of swains and country girls, who have come in the hope of glimpsing their sovereign. In his rural patois, a swain declares that the victorious King Louis is a great man. The fête starts and they are joined by some Egyptian girls. One of these newcomers praises the simplicity of the shepherds’ life, far from the confusions of the court. Indeed, with Peace revived, they have nothing to fear but Cupid. Iris disagrees that love is fated, but the Egyptian girl examines Iris’s hand and predicts that she 14
Pan interrupts the argument and joins the festivities. The god of shepherds addresses his devotees, sharing his memories of previous reigns: he has seen many great French kings, but Louis surpasses them all. He also mentions Armand, Cardinal de Richelieu, the creator of the beautiful gardens of Rueil, saying that the Cardinal’s shade regrets not being alive to revel in Louis’s glory. Shepherds and shepherdesses agree that Louis is the greatest of kings, in peace and in war. Pan paints a vivid depiction of the success of the king’s reign: science and the arts flourishing, the beauties of his majestic palaces, and the technical marvel of the “Canal des Deux Mers,” joining the Atlantic to the Mediterranean. Pan also gives an account of Louis’s success over the other European powers including the Ottoman and Austrian empires, the defeat of the Dutch Republic and Belgium, and the destruction of Luxembourg’s defenses. The crowning achievement of so many military triumphs is peace, which Louis has bestowed upon the universe; his glory is beyond compare.
La France au Roi
France praises the perfection of the heroic King who has nothing to fear from his enemies or from himself. n —Gilbert Blin
B OS T ON E AR LY M US I C F E ST I VAL